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Mac Forum / Applications / Mac Applications / May 2005Low Vision and the Mac??
My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look terrible when they are enlarged this way. Does anybody know of a program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone with low vision? > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look > terrible when they are enlarged this way. Does anybody know of a > program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone > with low vision? Try looking in System Preferences --> Universal Access. There are a number of system-wide options for people with low vision, so give them a try and see which seem to work for your dad. Also there's the old standby of just turning down the display resolution, so you get fewer pixels in the same size display.  SignatureTom "Tom" Harrington Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X. Version 2.0: Delocalize, Repair Permissions, lots more. See http://www.atomicbird.com/ > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look > terrible when they are enlarged this way. Does anybody know of a > program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone > with low vision? Has he tried Universal Access (System Prefs) and the Zoom function ? m- > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text It also has the option to set a minimum text size also (like most browsers have, these days). > , but the fonts look > terrible when they are enlarged this way. Some other font might look better. > Does anybody know of a > program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone > with low vision? Besides the options of trying another resolution and Universal Access, Opera[1] has the advantage it allows you to scale *everything*, not just text. Some browsers allow you to filter out content, like ads. That might be useful to create more room for what does matter. OmniWeb[2] probably will be the most interesting for you in this respect. [1] <http://www.opera.com/> [2] <http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/> SignatureSander Tekelenburg, <http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/> Mac user: "Macs only have 40 viruses, tops!" PC user: "SEE! Not even the virus writers support Macs!" > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look > terrible when they are enlarged this way. Does anybody know of a > program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone > with low vision? The new VoiceOver feature in Tiger should prove really helpful; it can read the interface to you, plus it can enlarge the area under the mouse. To learn more, see: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/voiceover/ m. Signaturematt neuburg, phd = matt@tidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/ Tiger - http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/tiger-customizing.html AppleScript - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005571 Read TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com > The new VoiceOver feature in Tiger should prove really helpful; it can > read the interface to you, plus it can enlarge the area under the mouse. > To learn more, see: > > http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/voiceover/ Does anyone else have trouble with this? It stutters horribly on my 1GHz Tibook. SignatureRichard W Kaszeta rich@kaszeta.org http://www.kaszeta.org/rich > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look > terrible when they are enlarged this way. Does anybody know of a > program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone > with low vision? Safari lets you apply a user style sheet to all pages. It's in the 'Advanced' tab. So you want to make or otherwise obtain a CSS stylesheet with big, readable text, and colors that help legibility. Then tell Safari to apply it to all the pages that come in by setting the default CSS to that file. I can't find anyone on the web who's giving away a CSS to use, though I'm sure it's out there somewhere. You might try the excellent CSSEdit software, and learn a little CSS yourself. Note also that Safari isn't unique in this way; many current web browsers let you use a default CSS file in this way. Randall Plant <rlplant@takeout.gci.net> wrote: > > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look > > terrible when they are enlarged this way. Does anybody know of a > > program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone > > with low vision? Randall - I have macular degeneration also. This may be heresy, but I sent for the Netscape 7.2 CD and installed it. Then, in Preferences, I chose Times as a font and 14 as the size. It works. With Netscape, you can "play with" the font and size to choose something that your Dad can use effectively. As an aside, I had been using the New Century Schoolbook font in everything from 7.x to 9.1. I couldn't find it in 10.3.2, so I went to Google, found a font factory and downloaded it. It's now my preferred font in Mariner Write and Camino. I also use it in Netscape, but, for me, the Times is a little clearer. I'd suggest you might want to try NCSB and see if it helps. For some reason, the seraph construct in the NCSB enlarges in a form that permits me to use it better than other fonts that are jacked-up in size. Cheers, George (82 and holding!) SignatureI know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -- Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman (attributed) > I have macular degeneration also. This may be heresy, but I sent for the > Netscape 7.2 CD and installed it. Then, in Preferences, I chose Times as > a font and 14 as the size. It works. > > With Netscape, you can "play with" the font and size to choose something > that your Dad can use effectively. This is the same as mozilla and firefox. Not surprising, since they're basically variants of the same browser. You might also want to look at the colors, pick a combination that works well, and tell NS to always override a page's colors with yours. This is a good idea in general, since so many pages force color combinations with poor contrast on some screens or in some eyes. None of this has any effect on images, of course. But, contrary to the old saying about a picture and 1000 words, most web pages have most of their actual information in the text, and little if any in the images. (With the exception of porn, of course. ;-) > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look > terrible when they are enlarged this way. Does anybody know of a > program or some other way to make web pages easier to read for someone > with low vision? I understand OSX 10.4 features a zoom possibility that is presently expected only for developpers, but that you may possibly activate; an illustration is given in the Ars Technica paper on 10.4 (see part 20 around the bottom for an illustration): http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars/20 Hervé SignatureFrédérique & Hervé Sainct, h.sainct@laposte.net [fr,es,en,it] Frédérique's initial is missing in front of the above address l'initiale de Frédérique manque devant l'adresse email ci-dessus > > My Dad has macular degeneration and can only read text if it is really > > big. Safari has an option for enlarging the text, but the fonts look [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Hervé Tiger OSX 10.4 had under System Preferences/Universal Access various options for visual difficulties. OPT CMD 8 will turn on ZOOM and allows one to enlarge the screen up to 20X normal. UP and DOWN magnification is done with CMD - and = keys. One also has choices of grayscale, changing the text to white characters on black background, and contrast control changes. All of these work with the Zoom also. Truthfully the very largest screen magnifications are blurry as well. Hopefully one of these will help. I use VoiceOver (a built in screen reader in Tiger). Morenuf Signaturemorenuf@nobodyhome.com.invalid |
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